Bukit Batok Secondary School

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School History

Bukit Batok Secondary School (BBSS) was established in 1986 to address the schooling needs of the newly completed Bukit Batok New Town in the mid-1980s. Its first batch of students totalled 400. The school building, located at 50 Bukit Batok West Avenue 8, featured unique sloping tiled roofs and a spacious entrance concourse while classes adopted the latest educational technology.

In 1996, BBSS staged its first-ever musical as part of its 10th-anniversary celebrations. One of the school’s signature programmes is Habits of Mind (HOM), which was introduced in 2003. HOM enables students to deal positively with challenging situations and equips them holistically for challenges in the 21st century.

In 2006, the school held a gala dinner to celebrate its 20th anniversary. It was a particularly poignant moment as the old school building was to be modernised as part of the Ministry of Education’s Programme for Rebuilding and Improving Existing Schools (PRIME). For the next two years, staff and students moved to a holding school in Toh Tuck Terrace. The PRIME upgrading was completed in 2008.

In 2016, BBSS launched its 2nd and 3rd signature programmes, i.e., the Learning for Life Programme (LLP) and Applied Learning Programme (ALP). These added significance to the 30th anniversary celebrations which saw the SAC commissioning the school’s own unique orchid hybrid, the Doritaenopsis Abundance Mentality at the gala dinner. The LLP focuses on the theme of community youth leadership based on the school’s strengths, with the aim of nurturing respectful leaders. The programme encompasses the twin components of youth leadership and VIA, undergirded by the HOM programme. The ALP, on the other hand, is a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) module on embedded electronics for lower secondary levels and hobbyist electronics for upper secondary levels.

Conceptualised in 2018 and officially launched during Singapore’s Bicentennial in 2019, BBSS created a Bukit Batok Community Heritage Corridor that regularly documents the school and Bukit Batok community history to enhance students’ learning by allowing them to explore stories across generations in Bukit Batok and foster a sense of pride and belonging to the community.

In 2019, the school’s staff had the unique honour of receiving 3 pinnacle accolades. In quick succession, the school had the distinction of having both the first BBSS recipient of the President’ Award for Teachers (PAT), Mr Syam Lal Sadanandan, and of the Outstanding Youth in Education Award (OYEA), Mr Ow Yeong Wai Kit. To add to this list of passionate educators, Mr Goh Thye Heng was announced the winner and first BBSS recipient of the Dr Ruth Wong Medal for best overall performance in the Management and Leadership in Schools (MLS) programme (Jul 2018) in the same year.

When COVID-19 struck Singapore in 2020, we soon realise it will be a unique experience of a generation and initiated the “Whale of Hope” project to immortalized the experience. The contribution of the origami masks design were installed to shape into a whale as a symbol of hope. It served as a pit-stop for the students to reflect on the pandemic’s reality: similar to the whales’ journey of survival. Through the creation process, students are reminded of the indestructible spirit of resilience. Today, Bukit Batok Secondary is privileged to hold on our school grounds a distinctive heritage marker of the pandemic experience. The installation, officially opened in 2023, showcases BBSS and Singapore’s success in overcoming the challenges posed by Covid-19. It is our hope that future batches of students will be inspired and always hold that sense of hope and gratitude from the once-in-a-generation experience to always strive to Be Our Best!

Principals:

Mrs Belinda Charles (1986–1990)
Mr Lim Lai Chuan (1990–1997)
Mr Suparman Adam (1998–2002)
Mr Tan Soon Yong (2003–2004)
Mrs Lysia Kee (2005–2013)
Ms Chamb Cherk Ing (2014–2016)
Mr Phua Huat Chuan (2017–present)

Key Milestones


1986	Establishment of Bukit Batok Secondary School.
1996	Celebration of 10th anniversary.
2003	Launch of Habits of Mind programme.
2006	Celebration of 20th anniversary.
2015	Creation of a unique orchid hybrid named Doritaenopsis Bukit Batok Secondary School Abundance.
2015	Enters the Singapore Book of Records for the largest skate scooter relay as part of SG 50 Celebrations.
2016	Launched of LLP and ALP as part of 30th anniversary celebrations.
2019	Official opening of the Bukit Batok Community Heritage Corridor.
2019	First Bukit Batok Secondary School recipients of the PAT, OYEA and Dr Ruth Wong Medal.
2021	Official Opening of Whale of Hope Art Installation to capture the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic.

School Motto

Be Our Best

School Crest

The two B’s represent the motto ‘Be Our Best’. The colour gold signifies the reward of having achieved our best, while red represents the community that has made this effort. The hill (‘Bukit’ in Malay) represents the effort that must come before achievement, as well as the aspiration behind being ‘our best’.

School Song

♫ Listen

B B S S, we pledge our best from the special and the ordinary.
Our talents differ but they don’t really matter
Cause we need a pool of talents in school-

Chorus
We will always be the best we can be
Just count it on me
We will always be the best we can be
Just count it on me
Our talents put together helping one another
We are a school both strong and free
Together in peace and harmony.
Together in peace and harmony.